The random thoughts, events, and diy projects of a city girl turned farm wife, mom of two, shaper of the young minds of America's future (1st Grade Teacher), coffee cream lover, Pinterest addict, and terrible cook.

Ups and Downs

Farm life can be an emotional roller coaster ride sometimes. Not just for me, but for my kids, our relatives, our friends, and for the farmers too.

For one, there’s no social planning with farming. Well you can plan all you want, but there’s NO guaranteethe plan will go as scheduled. This had been probably one of the hardest things I had to (and still am) learn about farming.

Secondly, there is always work to do done…and it probably should have been done yesterday!

Thirdly, farmers work really hard! I don’t say that meaning other people don’t work really hard too, but I do mean that they work really hard All.The.Time. Even in the event we’re able to steal him away from the farm for a few hours (gasp…dare we mention overnight), he hasn’t really quit working. His brain is still running through the list of farm tasks.

Then there’s the weather. Oh the weather…pray for rain. Pray for gentle rain. Pray for gentle rain that falls straight down. Pray for gentle rain that falls straight down for a solid day or two or five! Pray for the rain to stop. Pray for those white clouds to go away. Pray for the wind to stop. Pray for the sun to come out. Pray for warmer weather. Pray for cooler weather. Farmers pray A LOT for specific types of weather.

All the family events missed, back breaking days, and money spent (seed, chemical, fertilizer, fuel, etc.) is extremely frustrating when this happens…

The drought, hail, and cranes have not been very kind to the wheat this year 😢. Yes, thankfully there is crop insurance. The real damage however, lies much deeper than what meets the eye. There’s the decisions about whether or not to spray out or fertilize the wheat, which in turn then dictates whether or not we can plant something else in its place. Sounds ok except now the crop rotation is messed up and will take several years to straighten out.

Once pursued, the turbine companies will reimburse us for the damages the equipment has caused to the crops. Those cranes have compacted the soil though and recovery from that will take over 5-6 years.

It’s during these times I have to take a step back and be thankful for all the good years…

…because the long hours are worth every second and every penny when you see get to see these smiles.

Just So You Know…

Living 80 miles from the nearest city, Amazon is a huge part of our lives! Little House on the Windy Farm is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a way for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. All opinions are my own and products have been purchased at full cost to me unless otherwise noted.